Washboard



C. L. HINES. WASHBOARD. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1919.

1,377, 35. Patented Ma 10,192'1;

CHARLES L. HINES, 03 COUNCIL BL'UEFS, EOWA.

W'ASHBOABD.

Application filed. November 25, 1919.

To all whom 2'15 may concern:

Be it known that T, CHARLES L. Hrnns, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Council Bluffs, in the county of Pottawattamie andState of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Vi'ashboards, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient meansin connection with a washboard of the ordinary rubbing type, for holdingthe laundry soap in proper and convenient position to enable theoperator to bring the clothes or fabrics which are being rubbed upon theboard into contact with the soap merely by a continuation of the rubbingmotion and without the necessity of manually applying the soap to thearticles as in the ordinary practice, and in this connection to providemeans whereby the cake or cakes of soap supported in the holder may beadvanced from time to time to arrange the exposed surface thereof withinreach in the rubbing operation, to compensate for the wearing away Orremoval of the surface of the soap in the use thereof, and with theseobjects in view the invention consists in a construction and combinationof parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanyingdrawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of the device applied in the operative positionto a washboard.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same on the plane indicated by theline 2-2 of Fig. 1

hi 3 is a rear view.

4 is a front view of the follower.

Fig. 5 is a detail view enlarged of the extremity of the follower feedscrew.

The device embodying the invention is applicable to any ordinarycommercial form of washboard such as indicated at 10 and which isusually provided above the upper edge of the rubbing surface 11 with achannel or seat 12 for the reception of a cake or cakes of laundry soap,and mounted in this seat in a suitable guide 13 held in place, forexample, by fastening screws 1 1, is a follower 15 with which isconnected one er;- tremity of a feed screw 16 threaded in nut 17 whichis seated in the rear wall 18 of the board. The. feed screw or stem 15is preferably connected as by a swivel head 19 with said follower sothat by the turning of the screw through a wheel or handheld 20 at-Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Iilfay 1d, 1921..

Serial No. 340,595,

tached to the rear end thereof the follower may be advanced as the cakeor cakes of soap in front of the follower become worn, to cause theprojection of the front surface or surfaces of said cake or cakessufficiently beyond the front surface of the frame of the board to bewithin reach of the fabrics which are being moved upon the rubbingsurface in the ordinary operation of the device. The guides 13 arepreferably flanged at their upper and lower edges as shown at 21 to holdthe follower in a fixed path of movement and in practice it has beenfound convenient to arrange two bars of ordinary laundry soap in thepocket, said bars being arranged in end to end relation, so thatpractically the entire space between the terminal guides 13 is occupiedthereby. The attachment of the wheel or hand-hold 20 to the feed screwis indicated in detail in Fig. 5 wherein said screw is provided with asquared or angular seat 22 for engagement by the hub of said wheel,while a threaded bore 23 therein is adapted for the reception of aretaining screw indicated at 2d.

Located above the plane of the follower is a presser foot 25 adapted tobear upon the upper edges of the cakes of soap arranged in the seat inadvance of the follower, said presser foot consisting of a plateprovided with a stem 26 extending through a guide slot 27 in the rearwall of the frame of the washboard and fitted with a thumb nut 28. Thefunction of the presser foot is to hold the cakes of soap firmly inposition, to prevent the displacement thereof by the rubbing contacttherewith of the fabrics in the course of washing the same, and thefront edge of the presser foot is preferably set back from the frontsurface 29 of the washboard frame sufficiently to enable the fal ricswhich are being washed to be rubbed vigorously across the surfaces ofthe cakes of soap without coming in contact with said presser foot andas above noted, the follower may be adjusted from time to time in thecourse of the operation to maintain the cakes of soap with their frontsurfaces projected slightly beyond the plane of the front surface of theframe, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2.

It will be understood moreover that the soap holding device may beapplied to a washboard of the ordinary construction merely by insertingthe guides 13 as indicated and providing openings in the rear wall ofthe frame of the board for the reception of the feed nut 17 and theplate 30 upon which the stem of the follower is mounted. Also theprojection of the feed screw beyond the rear surface of the board doesnot interfere with the use of the latter in a tub or similar receptableas in the ordinary practice.

What is claimed'is:

The combination with a washboard having a soap receiving seat ofterminal flanged guides secured to the washboard frame at theextremities of said seat, a follower terminally mounted in said guidesfor movement toward and from the plane of the rubbing surface of theboard, a screw for ad vancing said follower and having engagement with afeed nut carried by thewashboard frame, and a presser foot for contactwith the upper edge of a cake of soap arranged in said seat, the saidpresser foot consisting of a plate provided with a stem centrallydisposed with reference to the length of the plate and lying in substantially the same plane with the latter, the stem projecting through avertically disposed slot in the washboard frame and re-.

ceiving on its free extremity a wing nut by means of which it may beadjusted toward or away from said follower.

In testimony whereof I my signature.

CHARLES L. HINES.

